


What Heroes Do

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Series: Infinity War Fix It [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-05-03 15:04:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14571576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: A lightning bug, a Rabbit, and a Disney Princess.





	What Heroes Do

Thor sat in one of the palace courtyards, reminded of Asgard. He closed his eyes and for a moment imagined that he was a boy again, sitting in his mother's garden, dodging lessons and trying to get extra practice with the Einherjar. His mother gave him some leeway before sending him back to the classroom. He'd done better with languages and tactics, things that had practical use. He didn't enjoy history or theory as much as Loki had, even though his father often said that he could learn much from history.

His breath hitched, thinking of them. He'd lost his mother, father, sister, brother and homeland. All of his childhood friends were gone or missing. As much as he'd hurt Thanos, Thor had continued to lose friends, and the populace of the realm under his protection was decimated. Life in the entire universe was halved for no other reason than to satisfy the whims of a madman bent on destruction.

Eyes snapping open, Thor let out a yell of anguish and threw the bracer that had been clenched in his hands.

Eventually, Thor heard the pitter-click of Rocket Racoon entering the room. "Can't sleep either, huh?" he asked, voice soft.

"This isn't right," Thor said, aggrieved.

"Things usually suck," Rocket said, coming closer. "I guess I don't know any different."

"It shouldn't be this way," Thor said, letting out a pained breath. "My brother and I were getting along, we saved whatever people we could... Valkyrie saved however many she got on the escape ships, I don't even know if the gambit worked. I don't know anything."

"You know the frequency they're using?" At Thor's surprised look, Rocket shrugged. "I can rig something, boost the signal of whatever satellites are on this pathetic planet. We can bring her here."

"You can do this?"

"Tech on this world is pathetic," Rocket said, a sneer in his voice. "This particular place doesn't suck so much, so I can make it work." His eyes slid sideways for a moment. "Better to think of something else, right? So you don't think of the horrible shit that asshole did to us."

Thor's breath hitched again. "You're not as unaffected as you like to think, Rabbit."

"Quit calling me Rabbit, you idiot. I got a name. It's Rocket."

He smiled faintly. "Rocket."

"That's better. Now c'mon, let's see what we can salvage in this place. Some of it might actually be worth something if we sell it on the black market. Seeing as how you don't got a world or even a ship anymore, I'll even cut you in on a deal if you help me."

The thought was so incongruous that Thor laughed. "Much appreciated," he said, humoring Rocket.

The grimace and show of teeth might have been a smile. "Don't mention it. Really, _don't mention it._ Can't have whatever losers in the galaxy left out there thinking I'm a pushover, you know?"

He nodded. "Understandable. Let's see if we can make this work."

***

Shuri caught wind of their little "experiment," which had involved parts of downed aircraft, stolen vibranium and machinery from the battlefield, as well as different pieces of offworld tech that Rocket had stored in his pack. The entire contraption was built on the balcony of Thor's rooms, and was an ugly mass of twisted metal and wiring. When she saw it, she sighed and actually covered her face with her hands. "That's a monstrosity!" she declared.

"Hey!" Rocket cried, turning around. "You don't even know me!"

"Not _you,"_ she snapped, impatient. "That poor piece of machinery that you're torturing over there."

"It's meant to be a communication device," Thor said helpfully, waving from his position on the other side of the device.

"Bah. And you didn't call me?"

"Don't you have, like, queenly things to be doing?" Rocket asked, voice gentling a little.

Her expression hardened. "I will not be so easily dismissed, little alien man. That hack job there is more likely to explode than do any communicating! Where are you trying to reach that you can't just use the phone?"

"It's far more dire than reaching New York long distance," Thor assured her with a smile. "My people, whoever might be left, are still in space. My friend Heimdall," his voice cracked here but no one was cruel enough to mention that, "had opened a portal to a safe place. He assured me as much, at least. He seemed far too calm for my liking at the time, to be honest. It was a mad scramble on our craft to get the refugees out, as many as could fit on the various escape pods and the Grandmaster's pleasure craft."

Shuri shot him an incredulous look. "Do I even want to know about that?"

Thor's grimace and head shake seemed answer enough.

"You both will need actual materials to put together an interstellar beacon," she said with a sigh. "I don't think you have enough power there to boost the signal outside of our solar system."

"This planet's full of crappy tech," Rocket groused.

She bristled and gestured for him to come closer. "You haven't seen _my_ technology, little alien man."

"Is that supposed to be an insult?" he asked her warily.

"Of course not! I would never offend such honored guests in my home!" Shuri offered him a look of such innocence that he was immediately suspicious. Still, Rocket and Thor followed her through the palace hallways, carrying their contraption between them. She occasionally lifted her wrist and consulted projections from the beads, manipulating it much as Tony had manipulated his virtual renderings at Avengers Tower.

Thinking of him sent a pang through Thor. They'd argued frequently enough, particularly about the entire Ultron debacle, but they were friends nonetheless. What if he was gone, too?

"I didn't think Earth had projection tech like that," Rocket grudgingly told her as they walked.

"Most of Earth does not. But there are a great many technological advances in Wakanda, most of which I built myself."

Rocket gave her an impressed glance. "So you design _and_ build tech like that?" At her proud nod, he let out a low whistle. "My impression of your planet just went up a notch." When she smiled, he snorted. "Don't think that's a great compliment. Thanks to Quill, my impression of your planet was pretty shitty to start with."

"You do call him a moron," Thor agreed. "Though sometimes friends call each other such out of affection."

"He's a pain in my ass and I'm gonna flip him off something fierce when he gets here." His voice was gruff and no one commented on his sniffle. "You know, for being an a-hole that takes off trying to be a hero and scaring the shit out of me. Who _does_ that kind of thing?"

"That's what heroes do," Thor told him, sadness in his voice.

"My brother," Shuri said at the same time. She stopped and flashed them all a sad smile. "Well. Not only him. There are other heroes in the world, and some have survived."

"We should band together."

"Why?" Rocket groused. "Thanos got what he wanted. Half of us dead, the other half all freaked out over what he's gonna do next."

Shuri sighed. "Because now that he has achieved this goal, what will he want next? If he can create anything he wants, do anything he wants... Spoiled children should never have such power."

"Never heard him called a spoiled child before," Rocket grumbled. "Gamora always said he was brutal and cruel and terrifying."

"I will _not_ think of him as a man," Shuri said, voice hard. "I will not think of him as having a heart or feelings or cares for anything as normal men do. Normal men would not wish death upon countless innocents just because he could do it. Normal men wouldn't hide in whatever place he is now and not deal with the repercussions of their actions-"

Rocket reached out a hand and touched her hip. "Yeah, they do. Because normal men are cowards and destructive babies."

Her lips trembled as she looked at them. The three were all touched by death and loss, none were coping very well. "I don't know what to do next," Thor said gently. "But I hope that I still have a people left to rule and take care of."

"We have space here," she told him, lips still trembling. "Our tribes need rebuilding."

"Asgardians have lost so much recently, as have you. Perhaps we could help each others' peoples heal."

She nodded and rubbed at her face. "It at least gives us something to do."

The rest of the way to her lab was in silence, which was promptly broken by Rocket's cry of ecstasy at the sight of it. "Can I live here?! This is so much better than the shithole places I've been to that Quill swore was awesome!"

"My lab is _not_ a shithole," Shuri huffed with pride. "Now, let's start by seeing where we need to send the signal out to..."

It was easier to think of astronomy and Yggdrasil as abstract concepts. He didn't have to think of his mother's lessons, or the others he had avoided as a child. The display of the known universe had to be expanded, of course, and the different planets and solar systems explained in a way that Shuri could input into her diagram. Rocket had far more experience traveling throughout the galaxy, complete with color commentary on the planets that made Thor and Shuri laugh out loud. He had a foul mouth on him, and seemed to hold nothing in reverence.

 _I've got a lot to lose,_ he had told Thor out in space, and Thor knew it to be true. His friend Groot had crumbled to ashes in front of him, and he was among strangers on a planet not his own. Thor knew very well how disorienting that could be, especially without friends or family to help.

Thor couldn't explain the sudden feeling of rightness when he stabbed at a portion of the growing star map with his finger. "There. We must look there."

"Man, that lightning you throw must've shorted your brains," Rocket huffed. "There's nothing out there!"

"Precisely," Thor said, excitement growing in his gut. "Heimdall could open portals along Yggdrasil easily with the Bifrost. But he could open them elsewhere as well, and he sent them somewhere safe. Where else would be safer than a portion of the galaxy with nothing?"

"If that's the case, " Shuri said slowly, forestalling Rocket's next argument, "then we should work quickly. No planets means no opportunity for refueling or getting more food for the people."

"Let's see what ya got, Princess," Rocket huffed, eyeing Thor with a bemused expression. "The lightning bug's people ain't gonna last long if he's wrong."

There was comfort in building things, Thor decided. He might not have had the technological know how that Shuri and Rocket did, but he could at least understand their theory and add to the banter. Standing in front of the holographic star map, Thor tapped the area where he was sure Valkyrie and the rest of the Asgardians were. "We'll find you and bring you home," he murmured under his breath.

He would save as many as he could, because that's what heroes do.


End file.
